How to do water changes in a tank with a heater??

[PinkDiamond]

Silly question, I know, but this is my first heated tank (Penn-Plax 25watt heater in 5 gallon Eclipse) and I'm totally clueless!

I know that the heater needs to be unplugged (unless it has overheat protection, like the Visi-Therm Stealth does) but does it need to be allowed to cool at all after it's unplugged and before you start removing water? Are there any other things that you need to keep in mind? I'm so nervous that I'll do something wrong and it'll break!

Thanks in advance for any input! :)

[dramaqueen]

I just unplug mine and do my water change.You don't need to do anything special. When you put the clean water back in, give the heater about 10 minutes to acclimate to the water temp, then plug it back in. At least that's what I was told to do and that's what I do.

[Rain Drop]

What I do with my heaters (I have 25w mini's by Hagen) is I unplug and let them cool for 30 minutes, take it out, take do my water change and shizzle, put it back in and give it another 30 minutes to get it used to the water, then plug back in.

I don't know if I'm waiting too long for cool down and warm up time, but that's what it said on the back of the package. Better safe than sorry I think.

[PinkDiamond]

Thank you both so much for the input! Rain Drop do you see much change in the tank temperature after the water change/readjustment time for the heater (looks like a bit over an hour of unplugged time in total)? I'm hoping to have my heater unplugged for the least amount of time possible (but that's still safe) as I think the temp in my tank could drop quite quickly... :S Unfortunately, I don't think my heater came with super detailed instructions.

[kelly528]

Unplug everything when you change the water! The electric current just travels through the fish no problem, so even if a heater, light, etc had fallen into your tank, you won't be able to tell because the fish will all be unaffected.

I don't acclimate my heaters or anything because the water temp doesn't change too much with the change (I match the water temp or use room temp). I just unplug the power bar that supplies my tank, do my stuff, then plug it back in after.

[Rain Drop]

Originally Posted by PinkDiamond

Thank you both so much for the input! Rain Drop do you see much change in the tank temperature after the water change/readjustment time for the heater (looks like a bit over an hour of unplugged time in total)? I'm hoping to have my heater unplugged for the least amount of time possible (but that's still safe) as I think the temp in my tank could drop quite quickly... :S Unfortunately, I don't think my heater came with super detailed instructions.

To still be safe, you can cut cool down and warm up time to 20 minutes. I always shut the window (it's very cold out now!) when I do my water changes to prevent the water getting colder than it should. See, I always do 100% changes, so I put a thermometer in the cup that i put my betta in, clean and set everything back up, and so by that time the temp. always drops about a degree or two, but no more usually no more than that. Then I match the tank water to that in the cup then put my betta back in the tank c: I don't find if it's huge deal that the temp drops a little, as long as you match the temp as what you bettas water is (if you take him out of the tank and place him in a container like I do).

I hope that wasn't too confusing for you to understand D:
I know my posts can be rather disorganized >>;